Pat Paxton
Pat Paxton has enjoyed a radio career rich in experience and success. He has held several programming and national programming positions with a variety of companies including Adventure Communications, Nationwide and Zapoleon Media Strategies.
In 1999, Pat joined Entercom as Director of AC & Top 40 Programming, and a few months later was named VP/Programming overseeing all the brands. Shortly thereafter, he was dubbed SVP/Programming overseeing Entercom’s 110 stations in 23 markets.
e-QB presents excerpts from the August FMQB magazine Cover Story with Pat Paxton, SVP/Programming, Entercom
On the main challenges programmers encounter today…
The biggest challenge is staying focused. The primary reason we all got into this was to create great content. PD’s are under stress on a lot of different levels. Many oversee multiple properties, do an air-shift and assume other roles. It’s a much busier job and a lot more complex than it used to be. We have to stay focused on the product.
On Entercom’s reaction to trend formats…
Trend formats is a tricky term. Let’s talk about format changes. In any business, if you have brands that are underperforming you need to assess the situation. We owe it to our listeners, shareholders and the industry. We need to take a look and see what kinds of opportunities exist. If we’ve been struggling and we feel there’s a better opportunity we’ll certainly take a look at it.
On brand name air talent that have fallen short of expectations…
I commend Clear Channel for putting Whoopie Goldberg on in mornings and giving it a shot because who knows, that could have turned into the next huge thing in our business. They paid a lot of money for a big name, and put a lot of resources behind that name both on the coaching and marketing sides. For whatever reason it didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have. I believe in taking those kinds of risks. I wish we’d see more of it.
On Entercom’s use of “star” talent in syndication…
We use it where we see an opportunity, like B97/New Orleans. Kidd Kraddick really wanted to be there and we really wanted him there. Kidd works his butt off creating a compelling show every day and he works extremely hard to localize. He visits the market quite a bit and supports our events. That’s a big part of it. Adam Corolla also works very hard for us in Seattle and Sacramento. He’ll do basically anything we ask of him within reason to make sure our listeners know he cares. Steve Harvey in Norfolk at WVKL our Urban AC hasn’t turned us down for anything yet. The same thing goes with Tom Joyner in Greensboro on our Urban AC.
On managerial pitfalls to avoid given his massive group oversight…
I don’t program radio stations. I help our programmers be as good as they can be. I challenge them and our GM’s to be as good as they can be. I try to ask tough, but fair questions. I try to dig as deeply into critical issues as we possibly can to make sure we’ve explored all possible options. But at the end of the day, we hire great people, and the reason we’re able to hire great people is because we let them do their jobs.
On the chief qualities he looks for when evaluating programmer talent…
Above everything else it’s leadership skills. It’s the ability to build a team, and lead that team into battle every day, and have that team totally buy into how you as a leader set the course. If somebody has good strategic and programming skills, along with great leadership skills, that person’s a winner.
On the most effective ways to extend station brands within the new tech platforms…
I believe that expanding the content we create to digital platforms is a huge opportunity. Look at Internet radio, satellite radio, the Pandoras of the world and those types of audio sources. There’s a place for all of these things. But look at their penetration so far. It’s extremely minimal compared to the 93% of all Americans that listen to radio every day. That tells us how well we as an industry are doing in creating great content.
On the constant Wall Street pressures effects on budget cuts…
You could always argue in any business that there’s not enough spending on talent, marketing or on producing a better product. Are there situations where I would like to spend more money marketing? Sure. However, I think we do a fantastic job at identifying the right opportunities and getting a good ROI on our marketing spend. I can only speak for Entercom and say that we are very well funded when we need to market and research our brands.
On the next phase of radio ownership as a privatization phase…
My guess is the money people are going to sit back and see how the Clear Channel deal goes. Because of their size, Clear Channel is the company that everybody keeps an eye on. It’s certainly possible that there will be some more moves towards privatization, but I don’t see the radio business rushing to get there, and I don’t see the money people rushing to make the entire industry private.
On radio maintaining a prominent place among the advertising community going forward…
Perception is the biggest issue. The satellite industry (from their perspective) did a fantastic job, with the dozen PR firms they hired and their tens of millions of dollars they spent, repositioning radio. If you just look at the numbers, the people who listen to radio and spend time with us everyday, the local stars we have in all our markets, it all adds up to one hell of a business. Yet the satellite companies now need to pursue a merger to survive. Who’s the winner there?
On what distinguishes Entercom among its corporate operator peers…
There are several really good operators out there, and I truly mean that. I have a ton of respect for all of them. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. God knows, we learn a lot by making mistakes. But the key for us and I’m sure for other companies as well, is learning from our mistakes and creating not only better companies but a better industry overall.
** QB Content by Fred Deane **
